Railroad-rail joint.



s. J. MCDONALDQ RAILROAD RAIL JOINT.

APPLICATION FILED MAY28. 1914.

Patented Oct. 31, 1916.

UNITED STATES A are.

STEPHEN J. MQDONALD, OF NORCROSS, MAINE.

RAILROAD-RAIL JOINT.

i To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, STEPHEN J. MoDoN- ALI), a citizen of the United States, residing at Norcross, in the county of Penobscot and State of Maine, have invented certain new and useful In'iprovements in Railroad-Rail Joints; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to new and useful ini novements in railroad rail joints and has for its object the provision of a joint which will prevent the battering of the end of the ail.

Another object of my invention is the provision of a rail joint which will mate? rially decrease the shocks occurring at the time the wheel of a car is passing over the joint. 7

A still further object of my invention is the provision of a rail joint which will be materially strengthened and will possess the qualities of a continuous rail.

A further object of the invention is to provide a means by which it is possible to determine whether or not the rails contain flaws.

With the above and other objects in view I-no'w proceed to describe my invention in the following specification and accompanying drawings, in which,

Figure 1 is a top plan view of my improved rail joint, Fig. 2 is a view of one side of my improved rail joint, Fig. 3 is a view of the side of my improved joint opposite that of Fig. 2, Fig. 4: is a detail perspective view of one of the rail ends, and 'Fig. 5 is a transverse sectional view taken on line 5-5 of Fig. 1.

Referring to the drawings by characters of reference, 1 indicates generally a railroad rail comprising the usual head 2, Web 3 and flange 4. The rail ends are cut away as at 5, as is clearly illustrated in the drawings, and provided with the apertures 6 through which bolts are adapted to pass.

A rail chair, indicated generally by the numeral 7, preferably comprising the web engaging portion 8, having formed integral therewith the flange engaging portion 9, which is extended, as clearly illustrated, to form the bearing plate 10. is provided and has the apertures l1 extending therethrough at a point imnmdiately adjacent to the flange Specification of Letters Patent.

drawings.

engaging portion. At the side opposite the apertures 11' I also provide the apertures T2, which are in direct alinement with the flange of the rail and it will be clearly seen that when a spike is driven through the apertures 12'it will frictionally engage the lateral extremity of the rail flange.

An L-shaped plate 13 is provided and is adapted to cooperate with the extension 10 when the device is in place. This plate 13 is held in position on the rail by means of the bolts 14 which extend through apertures in the platesand webs and are provided with the nuts 15, by means of which they are adapted to be firmly held in position.

The use of my device will be obvious and in operation the same will be placed in position with the flanges of the abutting rails, the web engaging portion 8 being placed directly beneath thehead of the rail andadapted to form a support therefor, as Will be clearly seen by referring to Fig. 5 of the The extension 10 will act as a joint chair and also as a tie plate, thereby preventing undue wear on the tie. The position of the apertures 11 and 12 will materially assist in the clamping action of the spikes. which are to be driven in the ties to hold the device in place, in view of the tactv that said spikes are brought into frictional engagement with the edges of the railties and an accidental movement of said flanges is substantially eliminated.

While in the foregoing I have shown and described the preferred embodiment of my invention, I wish it to be understood that I may change the specific arrangements of parts without in any way departingfrom the spirit and scope of my invention.

\Vhat I claim is:

In combination" railroad rails having their ends reduced and arranged in overlapping relation, heads and base flanges formed on the overlapping ends, a chair comprising a. base plate. of greater width than the combined widths of the base flanges, a member formed integrally with the base plate along one of its edges for engagement with the Patented 0017.31, 1916.

Application filed May 28, 1914. Serial No. 841,486. i

staggered relation to the firstpair, a Webengaging portion formed at the inner terminal of said member and provided with bolt-receiving apertures, said base plate extending beyond the base flange on the other side of the overlapping ends and having apertures positioned so that when the spikes are driven thereinto they will engage said base flange, and an angle bar arranged to co operate with the base flange and Web of said other side, said angle bar being provided 10 with bolt holes to receive bolts by means of which the Whole is secured to the rails.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence of two Witnesses. STEPHEN J. MCDONALD. Witnesses: 3 v

HAROLD H. HODGMAN, GEORGE W. S'IEABNS. 

